Polyarylene sulfides are high-performance polymers that may withstand high thermal, chemical, and mechanical stresses and are beneficially utilized in a wide variety of applications. Polyarylene sulfides are generally formed via polymerization of a dihaloaromatic monomer with an alkali metal sulfide or an alkali metal hydrosulfide in an organic amide solvent. During recovery of the high molecular weight polyarylene sulfide product, a portion is also collected that contains low molecular weight and cyclic arylene sulfide oligomers. This portion is often referred to as “slime” due to its undesirable physical characteristics. As such, a need currently exists for a technique of using this portion to form high molecular weight polyarylene sulfides.